Page 11 of Boss Me Around

Which makes me wonder…

As soon as I have the animals taken care of, I pop back into the kitchen to ask Nora, “Is that offer to be your twin peasant wench still on the table?”

She turns to me, a hopeful glint in her eyes. “It is. Have you decided you want to embrace your inner Renaissance Faire nerd? If so, I also have a princess costume and a jester outfit, too. You can choose your own adventure!”

“Which one has more of that?” I ask, motioning toward her cleavage. “I want as much of the sexy stuff as I can get working with a B cup.”

Nora’s grin widens. “Do you have a boy you want to flirt with today, too?”

“I do.” I brace myself and confess, “Christian,” before filling her in on the basics of our near-kiss last night.

“Yay!” She cheers when I’m finished. “Finally! I knew you liked him.”

I lift a hand, fingers spread. “Fine, yes, I do. But just for a fling type thing. Maybe. We’ll see. Either way, we keep this just between us.”

She mimes locking her lips and throwing away the key. “But he doesn’t seem like a fair guy. You think there’s a chance he’ll be there?”

“Oh yeah. An excellent chance. His family is full of Ren Faire nerds. His sister Melissa is a fantastic chef, who cooks the King’s Feast every year, his mom sells flower crowns, and I’m pretty sure one of his brothers is a jouster, too.”

Nora claps her hands and does a giddy little bounce that makes her abundant chest threaten to leap out the top of her corset. “Yay! We’ll have a day of fun and flirting and get to try Melissa’s food. I already bought two tickets to the feast. They said they were selling fast, so I wanted to be prepared just in case you wanted to go. I’m so excited! It feels like ages since I’ve had a girls’ day. I’m so glad my brother came to hang out with Gram for the weekend.”

“Me, too,” I agree, adding with a laugh, “but you might want to be careful with the jumping. Those puppies look like they’re ready to make a break for it.”

She giggles and waves a hand. “No worries. I’m a fashion designer. These puppies are strapped in tight with extra boob tape. I’ll go fetch my princess costume and some tape for you and we’ll be ready to go in no time.”

“Perfect,” I say. “I’ll pack snacks and water bottles.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she calls out as she starts toward the door. “We can buy food there, and it’s more important that you get your makeup done and plug in the curling iron. I’m giving you a quick updo with ringlets when I get back. With all that gorgeous dark hair, it would be a sin not to take advantage of an excuse to get fancy.”

Before I can protest, she’s out the door and running across the lawn to the house she shares with her grandmother. Grandma Delores is allergic to tree mold, wood smoke, autumn in Minnesota, and most foods, so she won’t be joining us. But she proves she’s a cool chick by sending along a gorgeous crown for me to wear with the costume.

“She won it in the Miss Bad Dog pageant in the 1950s,” Nora says as she pins the crown into the intricate updo she’s given me in less time than it takes me to flat iron my hair. “Isn’t it fabulous?”

“So pretty,” I breathe, biting my lip as I survey my reflection in the bathroom mirror. “Wow. I feel like a real princess.”

“And your cleavage is on point,” Nora says with a wink. “Not too obscene, but impossible to ignore.” She motions toward her own much more intense display. “I need to rub my guy’s nose in it a little to get him to notice me as something other than the weird girl he saved from a squirrel attack, but you can afford to be more subtle.”

“Can I, though?” I roll my shoulders back, making my breasts rise higher. “Christian and I have worked together for months and until last night he never acted like he felt any kind of attraction. And as soon as we were interrupted, he cruised right back into the friend zone.” I frown. “And why haven’t I heard the story about the squirrel? A squirrel attack is definitely something I want to know about, Nora. I’m not a fair-weather friend. I’m here for the fun stuff and the real stuff and the real fun stuff. Do I need to give a nasty squirrel a talking to about minding his manners?”

She sighs. “Oh, it wasn’t the squirrel’s fault, it was mine. I’ll tell you all about it on the way to the fair. But don’t worry about Christian. He’s probably just worried about silly stuff like the fact that you two still work together and your sister is married to his brother. But you and your cleavage will soon convince him that it’s crazy to worry about things like that when you could be enjoying friends-with-benefits time before he leaves town. I have faith in you.”

I wish I shared her faith.

Last night, wild leaps of daring seduction seemed possible. But in the bright light of morning, without tequila or the adrenaline from my mortifying voicemail rampaging through my system, seducing Christian feels like a much more intimidating task.

I suppose there’s always the chance that he’ll want to stay home with Bella today, in the name of getting her settled in her new home, and I won’t have to worry about seeing him until work on Monday. But even as the possibility drifts through my head, I silently pray it won’t come to pass.

Scary and intimidating or not, I don’t want to give up on being more than friends with Christian. Just standing close to him last night, with his arm around me and his breath warm on my lips was nearly enough to send me over the edge.

If I can near completion from mere proximity to the man, imagine the fun we could have in a bed with no clothes on…

Or in a shower or up against the wall at the office after hours or in a hayfield with a really big blanket to keep us from getting itchy or acquiring ticks. I’ve always had a fantasy about making out in a hayfield.

What can I say? I’m a country girl at heart.

All the way to the fair, while being regaled with Nora’s hilariously awkward tale of her squirrel attack, a part of me is imagining making out with Christian in a hayfield at dusk, while he tells me what a good girl I am for obeying his every wicked command. My fantasies are erotic, but also kind of wholesome, and I’m okay with that. I may not have much—okay, any—experience with sex, but I’m pretty sure the more I embrace my truest desires, the more fulfilling it will be.

I’m open to a wide range of filthy fun, but seeing the guy I want to bend me over his desk kissing another woman is nowhere on my list.

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